Button targets podium with 006

Button, who drove the new car immediately after its launch on Sunday, said that the design can be a winner if team-mate Takuma Sato and he can tap into the potential of the Honda-powered machine.

"This car is a major step forward and I feel very confident that the team isn't overstating its expectations for this year when we say we can fight with the top three teams," he said. "I think Taku and I will work very well together and hopefully we can look toward the same kind of results we achieved in Japan [where they finished fourth and sixth]. I think this year will definitely bring us podium finishes and, who knows, perhaps my first win as well.

"Getting that first podium always requires a bit of luck. If we work like we have over the winter, and the BAR-Honda package works as well as it has so far, then I see no reason why we can't take a podium from the first race in Melbourne."

Button also pointed to his recent testing lap record at Barcelona in the interim car as a sign that the team is going in the right direction.

"2004 looks like a very exciting season for us," said Button. "Pre-season testing has been going really well and the highlight so far was setting the new lap record in Barcelona two weeks ago. We didn't disguise the fact that we were running low fuel, but the purpose of the run was to gauge car performance in that trim. As you can imagine, we were very pleased with the result!

"We've done about 4,000km with the concept car this winter. We're still not completely sure about the new car, of course, but it seems very promising and feels very stable."

Button admitted that he feels more comfortable in the team in his new role as team leader, but says that has nothing to do with the exit of team-mate Jacques Villeneuve.

"I don't want to look too much into the past, but last year my team-mate would have most of the opinions," he said. "I feel more confident within the team than in 2003, so I think the better mood in the team has more to do with this.

"Now I know I need to work better with the team. When I'm not with them, I am thinking about improving the car. I've got more confidence after a year with them, [being team leader] is more about what I'm doing out of the car rather than what I'm doing in it."